Mapping temporary to long-term beam identifiers

Abstract

According to some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device for identifying beams in a wireless network. The method comprises receiving a first beam identifier mapping from a network node. The first beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers. The second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers. The method further comprises receiving a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

Description

Mapping Temporary to Long-Term Beam Identifiers TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to communication networks, and more specifically to mapping temporary beam identifiers to long-term beam identifiers. BACKGROUND

[0002] One of the key features of new radio (NR), compared to previous generation of wireless networks, is the ability to operate in higher frequencies (e.g., above 10 Giga hertz (GHz)). The available large transmission bandwidths in these frequency ranges may potentially provide large data rates. However, as carrier frequency increases, both pathloss and penetration loss increase. To maintain the coverage at the same level, highly directional beams are used to focus the radio transmitter energy in a particular direction on the receiver. However, large radio antenna arrays – at both receiver and transmitter sides – are needed to create such highly direction beams.

[0003] To reduce hardware costs, large antenna arrays for high frequencies use time-domain analog beamforming. The core idea of analog beamforming is to share a single radio frequency chain between many (or potentially all) of the antenna elements. A limitation of analog beamforming is that it is only possible to transmit radio energy using one beam (in one direction) at a given time.

[0004] The above limitation requires the network and user equipment (UE) to perform beam management procedures to establish and maintain suitable transmitter (Tx) / receiver (Rx) beam- pairs. For example, beam management procedures may be used by a transmitter to sweep a geographic area by transmitting reference signals on different candidate beams, during non- overlapping time intervals, using a predetermined pattern. Thus, by measuring the quality of the reference signals at the receiver side, the best transmit and receive beams may be identified.

[0005] Beam management procedures in NR are defined by a set of layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) procedures that establish and maintain suitable beam pairs for both transmitting and receiving data. A beam management procedure may include the following sub-procedures: beam determination, beam measurements, beam reporting, and beam sweeping.

[0006] For downlink transmission from the network to the UE, P1 / P2 / P3 beam management procedures may be performed according to the NR technical report to overcome the challenges of establishing and maintaining the beam pairs when, for example, a UE moves or a blockage in the environment requires changing the beams. Although these scenarios are not directly mentioned inspecifications, there are relevant procedures defined that enable the realization of these scenarios. Examples of such realization are depicted in the corresponding figure of each scenario.

[0007] Figure 1 illustrates synchronization signal block (SSB) beam selection as part of an initial access procedure according to the P1 scenario. The P1 procedure is used to enable UE measurement on different transmission / reception point (TRP) Tx beams to support the selection of TRP Tx beams / UE Rx beam(s). During initial access, for example, the gNB transmits synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block (SSB) beams in different directions to cover the entire cell. The UE measures signal quality on corresponding SSB signals to detect and select an appropriate SSB beam, as illustrated in Figure 1. Random access is then transmitted on the random access channel (RACH) resources indicated by the selected SSB. The corresponding beam will be used by both the UE and the network to communicate until connected mode beam management is active. The network infers which SSB beam was chosen by the UE without any explicit signaling.

[0008] For beamforming at a TRP, beamforming typically includes an intra / inter-TRP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. For beamforming at UE, beamforming typically includes a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams.

[0009] Figure 2 illustrates channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Tx beam selection in downlink according to the P2 scenario. The P2 procedure is used to enable UE measurement on different TRP Tx beams to possibly change inter / intra-TRP Tx beam(s). The network may use the SSB beam as an indication of which (narrow) CSI-RS beams to try; that is, the selected SSB beam may be used to define a candidate set of narrow CSI-RS beams for beam management.

[0010] Once CSI-RS is transmitted, the UE measures the reference signal received power (RSRP) and reports the result to the network. If the network receives a CSI-RSRP report from the UE where a new CSI-RS beam is better than the old beam used to transmit physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the network updates the serving beam for the UE accordingly, and possibly also modifies the candidate set of CSI-RS beams. The network may also instruct the UE to perform measurements on SSBs. If the network receives a report from the UE where a new SSB beam is better than the previous best SSB beam, a corresponding update of the candidate set of CSI-RS beams for the UE may be motivated.

[0011] The P2 procedure is performed on a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinement than in P1. Note that P2 may be a special case of P1. For example, in connected mode, a gNB configures the UE with different CSI-RSs and transmits each CSI-RS on the corresponding beam. The UE then measures the quality of each CSI-RS beam on its current RX beam and sendsfeedback about the quality of the measured beams. Thereafter, based on this feedback, the gNB will decide and possibly indicate to the UE which beam will be used in future transmissions. This is shown in Figure 2.

[0012] Figure 3 illustrates UE Rx beam selection for corresponding CSI-RS Tx beam in downlink according to P3 scenario. P3 is used to enable UE measurement on the same TRP Tx beam to change UE Rx beam when the UE uses beamforming. Once in connected mode, the UE is configured with a set of reference signals. Based on measurements, the UE determines which Rx beam is suitable to receive each reference signal in the set. The network then indicates which reference signals are associated with the beam that will be used to transmit PDCCH / PDSCH, and the UE uses the information to adjust its Rx beam when receiving PDCCH / PDSCH.

[0013] In connected mode, P3 may be used by the UE to find the best Rx beam for the corresponding Tx beam. In this case, the gNB keeps one CSI-RS Tx beam at a time, and the UE performs the sweeping and measurements on its own Rx beams for that specific Tx beam. The UE then finds the best corresponding Rx beam based on the measurements and will use it in the future for reception when the gNB indicates the use of that Tx beam.

[0014] For beam management, a UE may be configured to report RSRP or / and signal-to- interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for each one of up to four beams, either on CSI-RS or SSB. UE measurement reports may be sent either over physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to the network node, e.g., gNB.

[0015] A CSI-RS is transmitted over each transmit (Tx) antenna port at the network node and for different antenna ports. The CSI-RS is multiplexed in time, frequency, and code domain such that the channel between each Tx antenna port at the network node and each receive antenna port at a UE may be measured by the UE. A time-frequency resource used for transmitting CSI-RS is referred to as a CSI-RS resource.

[0016] In NR, the CSI-RS for beam management is defined as a 1 or 2-port CSI-RS resource in a CSI-RS resource set where the field repetition is present. The following three types of CSI- RS transmissions are supported.

[0017] For periodic CSI-RS, CSI-RS is transmitted periodically in certain slots. The CSI-RS transmission is semi-statically configured using radio resource control (RRC) signaling with parameters such as CSI-RS resource, periodicity, and slot offset.

[0018] Semi-persistent CSI-RS is similar to periodic CSI-RS. Resources for semi-persistent CSI-RS transmissions are semi-statically configured using RRC signaling with parameters such as periodicity and slot offset. However, unlike periodic CSI-RS, dynamic signaling is used to activate and deactivate the CSI-RS transmission.

[0019] Aperiodic CSI-RS is a one-shot CSI-RS transmission that may happen in any slot. Here, one-shot means that CSI-RS transmission only happens once per trigger. The CSI-RS resources (i.e., the resource element (RE) locations which consist of subcarrier locations and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol locations) for aperiodic CSI-RS are semi-statically configured. The transmission of aperiodic CSI-RS is triggered by dynamic signaling through PDCCH using the CSI request field in uplink downlink control information (UL DCI), in the same DCI where the uplink resources for the measurement report are scheduled. Multiple aperiodic CSI-RS resources may be included in a CSI-RS resource set, and the triggering of aperiodic CSI-RS is on a resource set basis.

[0020] In NR, an SSB consists of a pair of synchronization signals (SSs), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PBCH. An SSB is mapped to four consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain and 240 contiguous subcarriers (20 resource blocks (RBs)) in the frequency domain.

[0021] NR supports beamforming and beam-sweeping for SSB transmission by enabling a cell to transmit multiple SSBs in different narrow-beams multiplexed in time. The transmission of the SSBs is confined to a half-frame time interval (5 ms). It is also possible to configure a cell to transmit multiple SSBs in a single wide-beam with multiple repetitions. The design of beamforming parameters for each of the SSBs within a half frame is up to network implementation. The SSBs within a half frame are broadcasted periodically from each cell. The periodicity of the half frames with SS / PBCH blocks is referred to as SSB periodicity, which is indicated by system information block 1 (SIB1).

[0022] The maximum number of SSBs within a half frame, denoted by L, depends on the frequency band, and the time locations for the L candidate SSBs within a half frame depends on the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the SSBs. The L candidate SSBs within a half frame are indexed in ascending order in time from 0 to L-1. By successfully detecting PBCH and its associated DMRS, a UE knows the SSB index. A cell does not necessarily transmit SS / PBCH blocks in all L candidate locations in a half frame, and the resource of the unused candidate positions may be used for the transmission of data or control signaling instead. It is up to network implementation to decide which candidate time locations to select for SSB transmission within a half frame, and which beam to use for each SSB transmission.

[0023] For measurement resource configurations in NR, a UE may be configured with N≥1 CSI reporting settings (CSI-ReportConfig) and M≥1 resource settings (CSI-ResourceConfig), where each of N and M is an integer.

[0024] Each CSI reporting setting is linked to one or more resource settings for channel and / or interference measurement. The CSI framework is modular in the sense that several CSI reporting settings may be associated with the same Resource Setting.

[0025] The measurement resource configurations for beam management are provided to the UE by RRC information element (IE) (CSI-ResourceConfigs). One CSI-ResourceConfig contains several NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets and / or CSI-SSB-ResourceSets.

[0026] A UE may be configured to measure CSI-RSs using the RRC IE non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP-CSI-RS)-ResourceSet. A NZP CSI-RS resource set contains the configurations of Ks ≥1 CSI-RS resources. Each CSI-RS resource configuration resource includes at least the following: mapping to REs, the number of antenna ports, and time- domain behavior.

[0027] Up to 64 CSI-RS resources may be grouped together in a NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet. A UE may be configured to measure SSBs using the RRC IE CSI-SSB-ResourceSet. Resource sets comprising SSB resources are defined in a similar manner to the CSI-RS resources defined above.

[0028] For aperiodic CSI-RS and / or aperiodic CSI reporting, the network node configures the UE with ^^^^^^^^CSI triggering states. Each triggering state contains the aperiodic CSI report setting to be triggered along with the associated aperiodic CSI-RS resource sets.

[0029] Periodic and semi-persistent resource settings may only comprise a single resource set (i.e., S=1). Aperiodic resource settings may have many resource sets (S>=1), because one out of the S resource sets defined in the resource setting is indicated by the aperiodic triggering state that triggers a CSI report.

[0030] Three types of CSI reporting are supported in NR, as follows.

[0031] One type is periodic CSI reporting on PUCCH. CSI is reported periodically by a UE. Parameters such as periodicity and slot offset are configured semi-statically by higher layer RRC signaling from the network node to the UE.

[0032] Another type is semi-persistent CSI reporting on PUSCH or PUCCH. This is similar to periodic CSI reporting where semi-persistent CSI reporting has a periodicity and slot offset that may be semi-statically configured. However, a dynamic trigger from a network node to UE may be used to enable the UE to begin semi-persistent CSI reporting. A dynamic trigger from the network node to UE is needed to request the UE to stop the semi-persistent CSI reporting.

[0033] A third type is aperiodic CSI reporting on PUSCH. This type of CSI reporting involves a single-shot (i.e., one time) CSI report by a UE that is dynamically triggered by the network nodeusing DCI. Some of the parameters related to the configuration of the aperiodic CSI report are semi-statically configured by RRC, but the triggering is dynamic.

[0034] In each CSI reporting setting, the content and time-domain behavior of the report is defined, along with the linkage to the associated Resource Settings.

[0035] The CSI-ReportConfig IE comprises the following configurations: • reportConfigType: Defines the time-domain behavior (periodic CSI reporting, semi- persistent CSI reporting, or aperiodic CSI reporting) along with the periodicity and slot offset of the report for periodic CSI reporting. • reportQuantity: Defines the reported CSI parameters -- the CSI content; for example, the pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI), channel quality indicator (CQI), rank indicator (RI), layer indicator (L1), CSI-RS resource index (CRI) and L1-RSRP. Only certain combinations are possible; for example, channel-related information - rank indicator - precoding matrix indicator - channel quality indicator (‘cri-RI-PMI-CQI’) is one possible value and ‘cri-RSRP’ is another) and each value of reportQuantity could be said to correspond to a certain CSI mode. • codebookConfig: Defines the codebook used for PMI reporting, along with possible codebook subset restriction (CBSR). NR supported the following two types of PMI codebooks: Type I CSI and Type II CSI. Additionally, the Type I and Type II codebooks each have two different variants: regular and port selection. • reportFrequencyConfiguration: Define the frequency granularity of PMI and CQI (wideband or subband), if reported, along with the CSI reporting band, which is a subset of subbands of the bandwidth part (BWP) to which the CSI corresponds. • Measurement restriction in time domain (ON / OFF) for channel and interference respectively.

[0036] For beam management, a UE may be configured to report L1-RSRP for up to four different CSI-RS / SSB resource indicators. The reported RSRP value corresponding to the first more optimal channel-related information (CRI) / synchronization signal block rank indicator (SSBRI) requires 7 bits, using absolute values, while the others require 4 bits using encoding relative to the first. In NR release 16, the report of L1-SINR for beam management has already been supported.

[0037] Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is studying artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) based spatial beam prediction. The core idea is to predict the “best” or more optimal beam (or beams) from a Set A of beams using measurement results from another Set B of beams.

[0038] Set A and Set B of beams have not been defined yet; however, the following two examples illustrate some scenarios that will likely be studied in Release 18.

[0039] In a first example, Set B is a subset of a Set A. For example, Set A is a set of 8 SSB / CSI- RS beams shown in Figure 5 (both light and dark circles). The UE measures Set B (the 4 beams indicated by dark circles). The AI / ML model should predict the best beam (or beams) in Set A using only measurements from Set B.

[0040] Figure 4 illustrates an example where Set B is a subset of Set A. Figure 4 illustrates a grid-of-beam type radiation pattern: Each row (resp. column) depicts a certain zenith (resp. azimuth) angle from the antenna array. Set A has 8 beams and Set B has 4 beams (indicated by dark circles).

[0041] In a second example, Set A and Set B correspond to two different sets of beams. For example, Set A is a set of 30 narrow CSI-RS beams, and Set B is a set of 8 wide SSB beams. The UE measures beams in Set B and the AI / ML model should predict the best beam(s) from Set A.

[0042] Figure 5 illustrates an example where Set A is a set of narrow beams and Set B is a set of wide beams.

[0043] The spatial beam prediction may be performed in the gNB or the UE.3GPP is studying AI / ML model training both at the network and UE side. Which side that performs the training is expected to impact how data collection is performed, and another agreement is to study the aspect of data collection for beam management. In addition, 3GPP is studying the aspect of model monitoring and the standard impact on AI / ML model inference (e.g., reporting of predicted values).

[0044] The following text is reproduced from TR 38.843 regarding performance monitoring. ***************************************************************************** For the performance monitoring of BM-Case1 and BM-Case2: - Performance metric(s) with the following alternatives: - Alt.1: Beam prediction accuracy related KPIs, e.g., Top-K / 1 beam prediction accuracy - Alt.2: Link quality related KPIs, e.g., throughput, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, hypothetical BLER - Alt.3: Performance metric based on input / output data distribution of AI / ML - Alt.4: The L1-RSRP difference evaluated by comparing measured RSRP and predicted RSRP - Benchmark / reference for the performance comparison, including: - Alt.1: The best beam(s) obtained by measuring beams of a set indicated by gNB (e.g., Beams from Set A)- Alt.4: Measurements of the predicted best beam(s) corresponding to model output (e.g., Comparison between actual L1-RSRP and predicted RSRP of predicted Top-1 / K Beams) - Signalling / configuration / measurement / report for model monitoring, e.g., signalling aspects related to assistance information (if supported), Reference signals For BM-Case1 and BM-Case2 with a UE-side AI / ML model: - Type1 performance monitoring: - Configuration / Signalling from gNB to UE for measurement and / or reporting - UE may have different operations - Option1: UE sends reporting to NW (e.g., for the calculation of performance metric at NW) - Option2: UE calculates performance metric(s), either reports it to NW or reports an event to NW based on the performance metric(s) - Indication from NW for UE to do LCM operations - Note: At least the performance and reporting overhead of model monitoring mechanism should be considered - Type2 performance monitoring (UE-side performance monitoring): - Indication / request / report from UE to gNB for performance monitoring - Note: The indication / request / report may be not needed in some case(s) - Configuration / Signalling from gNB to UE for performance monitoring measurement and / or reporting - UE calculates performance metric(s), either reports it to NW or reports an event to NW based on the performance metric(s) - If it is for UE-side model monitoring, UE makes decision(s) of model selection / activation / deactivation / switching / fallback operation - - Indication from NW to UE to do LCM operation - UE reporting of beam measurement(s) based on a set of beams indicated by gNB - Signalling, e.g., RRC-based, L1-based - Note: Performance and UE complexity, power consumption should be considered - Mechanism that facilitates the UE to detect whether the functionality / model is suitable or no longer suitable Table 7.2.3-1 summarizes applicability of various alternatives for performance metric(s) of AI / ML model monitoring for BM-Case1 and BM-Case2.Table 7.2.3-1: Alternatives for Performance metric(s) of AI / ML model monitoring for BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2 Alt.1: Beam Alt.2: Link quality Alt.3: Performance Alt.4: The L1-RSRP prediction accuracy related KPIs, .e.g., metric based on difference evaluated by related KPIs, e.g., throughput, L1- input / output data comparing measured Top-K / 1 beam RSRP, L1-SINR, distribution of RSRP and predicted prediction accuracy hypothetical BLER AI / ML RSRP Applicable to all Applicable to all Applicable to all May not applicable to studied AI models studied AI models studied AI models some implementation of AI model (e.g., not output of predicted L1- RSRP) Reflect the Reflect the Reflect the change Reflect accuracy of the prediction accuracy system / link of the statics of the predicted 1-RSRP of AI model performance input / output data Not reflect the Not reflect the Not reflect the Not reflect the system / link prediction accuracy prediction system / link performance performance directly of AI model directly performance of AI directly model directly Not reflect the system / link performance directly Note1: The above analysis shall not give an indication about whether / which metric is supported or specified. Note2: Monitoring performance of the above alternatives are not addressed in the table. *****************************************************************************

[0045] As described above, the AI / ML model for beam prediction may be network-sided or UE-sided (i.e., executed in the gNB or in the UE). If the model is network-sided, the UE makes RSRP (i.e., layer 1 RSRP or L1-RSRP) and / or SINR (i.e., layer 1 SINR or L1-SINR) measurements and reports the measurement results to the network for input into the AI / ML model. If the model is UE-sided, the UE both makes the measurements and the AI / ML-model-basedprediction, and thus no reporting of the measurements is needed except for the final predicted beam(s).

[0046] A key part of AI / ML-based prediction is data collection. Data collection is performed in several stages of the life-cycle management (LCM).

[0047] First, the model must be trained by collecting measurement data for a large set of UE locations / channel conditions representative of the UE locations / channel conditions that may be encountered during the use of the model (i.e., inference). For each UE, preferably all possible narrow Tx beam directions should be swept, i.e. a fairly large set of beams.

[0048] Second, when using the model for prediction (i.e., inference), measurement data for any UE to predict beams must be collected and fed to the AI / ML model. The set of beams to sweep for a UE is here much smaller than during training because not all narrow beams are swept, only a few wide (or possibly narrow) beams are swept.

[0049] Finally, measurements are needed to monitor that the model functions well, or otherwise disable the model or update it.

[0050] For a network-sided model, all three types of data collection (training, inference, monitoring) follow the same general procedure: 1. The network transmits a signal (e.g. CSI-RS or SSB) using a set of several different Tx beams on the downlink. 2. The UE measures the RSRP (or another quantity, for example, L1-SINR) of the different transmissions. The UE here typically does Rx beamforming; this beamforming is, however, an implementation detail that it is up to the UE to decide. 3. The UE reports the measured RSRP (or other quantity, for example, L1-SINR ) values to the network.

[0051] A potential issue with a data-driven approach for learning the gNB TX / RX beam correlations / properties is that different sites / cells may have different antenna / beam configurations. Moreover, even within the same cell, there may be scenarios where antenna / beam configurations are semi-dynamically adjusted to better fit the current traffic load situations.

[0052] There currently exist certain challenges. For example, in current systems, Set A may contain a very large set of beams, e.g. 1000 (or even 2000), each of which the UE and network must be able to refer to unambiguously in control signaling, and with consistency between training and inference. In fifth generation (5G) NR, reference signals with different beams can be transmitted in different NZP CSI-RS resources. However, the maximum number of NZP CSI-RS resources that can be configured within a serving cell is limited by the parameters maxNrofNZP- CSI-RS-Resources = 192 / maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources-1 = 191 as defined in 3GPP TS38.331 V18.0.0. This means that according to Rel-18 specifications, the maximum number of beams that can be transmitted within a serving cell cannot exceed 192 (where it is assumed each beam is transmitted within one configured NZP-CSI-RS resource. To this end, the current NR specifications can only support a maximum of 192 unique beam IDs per cell.). Thus, Rel-18 beam IDs are not sufficient.

[0053] As one example, with a UE-sided AI / ML model, the UE, during inference, is supposed to report which of the (for example, 1000) beams of Set A observed during training that it predicts to be the best beam. This is not possible with only 192 unique beam IDs per cell.

[0054] One possible approach / solution may be to increase the parameters maxNrofNZP-CSI- RS-Resources / maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources-1, but then more bits are needed to signal beam IDs, which would lead to unnecessary overhead in the system (especially during training, where a large number of beam IDs may have to be signaled).

[0055] Also, while the key motivating example above is about a very large Set A, it should be noted that even if Set A would always be guaranteed to be rather small, e.g.100 beams, there could still be an issue because the NZP CSI-RS resources per cell are in principle shared between all UEs in the system, and may be used for other purposes than AI / ML data collection (these other purposes include CSI acquisition, fine time / frequency tracking using tracking reference signals which are a special kind of NZP CSI-RS, non-AI / ML based beam management, etc.). SUMMARY

[0056] As described above, certain challenges currently exist with managing large beam sets. Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, particular embodiments define a “long-term beam ID” that can support a large set of unique IDs (e.g., 2000 or even more). As another example, particular embodiments define / configure a mapping between the long-term beam ID and the legacy beam ID (NZP-CSI- RS-ResourceId, a number 0–191), henceforth referred to as “temporary beam ID,” where the mapping may be reconfigured dynamically.

[0057] In a particular example, the network may first configure (i.e., inform the user equipment (UE)) that temporary beam IDs 0-191 map to long-term beam IDs 500-691 (in consecutive order), after which the network can effectively refer to any of the long-term beam IDs 500-691 through a temporary ID in the range 0-191 in communications with the UE, e.g. when sweeping CSI-RS beams. Later, the network may reconfigure temporary beam IDs 0-191 to instead map to long-term beam IDs 1100-1291, after which the network can effectively refer to long-termbeam IDs 1100-1291 in communication with the UE (but no longer to long-term beam IDs 500- 691 without further reconfiguration).

[0058] Particular embodiments provide several methods for the network to efficiently (i.e., with low overhead) inform the UE about the mapping. Particular embodiments provide methods to implement simple consecutive mappings (as in the above example) and complex / flexible mappings. Particular embodiments provide support for mappings that may be relevant in a real network, considering, e.g., beam neighbor relations (in terms of azimuth / elevation angles).

[0059] Particular embodiments provide support for communicating the mappings implicitly through existing signaling (Rel-18, or extensions thereof) to keep the overhead and impact minimal or reduce the overhead. An example to illustrate this idea is as follows. If the temporary beam (NZP-CSI-RS-Resource) is part of both nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSet X and nzp-CSI-RS- ResourceSet Y, then referencing it via nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSet X may indicate one mapping, and referencing it via nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSet Y may indicate another mapping. The combination of a nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSet ID and a NZP-CSI-RS-Resource ID then jointly determines which long-term beam is being referenced.

[0060] Figures 6A-6C illustrate example flowcharts for a method of the disclosed system, according to particular embodiments. In particular embodiments, as shown by dashed lines in Figure 6A, steps 140 and 170 may be optional. Step 160 may occur at any time instant between step 120 and step 180. In each of Figures 6B and 6C, the additional steps are not shown. The steps with the same reference number in Figures 6A-6C may be the same step.

[0061] Referring to Figure 6A, in step 110, the UE transmits a capability report to the network (e.g., a network node), where the capability report indicates the UE’s capability in training a beam prediction model, according to some embodiments.

[0062] In step 120, the network may configure a mapping and transmit the mapping to the UE. For example, the mapping may include a mapping between certain temporary beam IDs and certain long-term beam IDs.

[0063] In step 130, the network may configure measurements using temporary beam IDs and transmit the configured measurements to the UE.

[0064] In step 140, the network may transmit certain beams to the UE, according to some embodiments.

[0065] In step 160, the UE translates temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, e.g., based on the provided mapping, according to some embodiments.

[0066] In step 170, the network transmits certain beams to the UE, according to some embodiments.

[0067] In step 180, the UE predicts certain long-term beam ID(s) of beams that may lead to a higher signal quality compared to other beams and transmits the predicted beam IDs to the network.

[0068] Referring to Figure 6B, the steps 110, 120, 130, 140, and 160 may correspond to the steps 110, 120, 130, 140, and 160 described in Figure 6A, respectively.

[0069] Referring to Figure 6C, the steps 110, 160, and 170 may correspond to the steps 110, 160, and 170 described in Figure 6A, respectively. Additional descriptions of steps 110 to 180 of Figure 6A are described below.

[0070] The corresponding description below is a summary of particular embodiments. According to some embodiments, the network informs the UE about a mapping between a temporary beam ID and a long-term beam ID that supports a larger set of unique IDs.

[0071] The temporary beam ID may, e.g., be a NR Rel-18 resource ID. An NR Rel-18 resource ID may be, e.g. a NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId, a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID, a CSI-RS resources indicator (CRI), and / or an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI). The temporary beam ID may be an index into a list of NR Rel-18 resource ID, e.g. the NR Rel-18 resource IDs in a certain ResourceSet or ResourceConfig taken in order of increasing NR Rel-18 resource IDs (e.g., ascending order), or in the order the NR Rel-18 resource IDs were defined.

[0072] Some embodiments include mapping encoding methods. According to particular embodiments, a mapping may be expressed by a mapping rule and set of mapping parameters, e.g. in one of the following ways, or using a combination of them, including: • Sequential rule (e.g., temporary beam ID 0-191 => long-term beam ID 500-691, the parameter is 500). • Sequential offset rule (e.g., temporary beam ID 20 … => long-term beam ID 210 ..; the parameters are 20 and 210). • Multiple sequential rule (e.g., temporary beam ID 20-49 => long-term beam ID 200-209, 212-220, 225-235). Multiple sequential with fixed “stride”, e.g. (e.g. temporary beam ID 20-49 => long-term beam ID 200-209, 220-229, 240-249). Useful for 2D beam pattern (see detailed description). • Bit-map rule. One bit per long-term beam ID (e.g., with 10 long-term beam IDs and 4 temporary beam IDs, [0011100001] could mean mapping to long-term beam IDs [2,3,4,9] to temporary beam IDs [0,1,2,3]). Each bit refers to sequence of beam IDs (e.g.

[1001] with granularity 2 means mapping of long-term beam IDs [0,1,6,7]). Each bit refers to a sequence of beam IDs. Useful for 2D beam patterns (see detailed description).• The mapping may be directly from temporary beam ID to long-term beam ID according to any of the above or below methods or embodiments, or it may be a mapping between an index into a list of temporary beam IDs, where the list may be, e.g. the NR Rel-18 resource IDs in a certain ResourceSet or ResourceConfig, taken in order of increasing NR Rel-18 resource IDs (e.g., ascending order), or in the order the NR Rel-18 resource IDs were defined. • Compositional rule, e.g. when the long-term ID is represented by a vector of two numbers, one of the numbers may be determined implicitly as described below and the other number may be determined based on temporary beam ID according to any embodiment above.

[0073] Some embodiments include preconfigured mappings referred to by mapping IDs. Mappings according to any embodiment may be preconfigured and assigned one “mapping ID” each, and the network later may communicate mapping ID(s) instead of entire mapping encodings.

[0074] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is not cell-specific, but rather has the same meaning in multiple or all cells. It may then be referred to as “global mapping ID.”

[0075] Some embodiments include explicit configuration / signaling of mappings. According to particular embodiments, a mapping (in terms of mapping parameters and / or a mapping rule identifier) or a mapping ID may be communicated to the UE as one or more of the following: • As part of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement configuration, either via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control control element (MAC CE), or downlink control information (DCI) • As part of SSB configuration in system information block 1 (SIB1) • As part of a resource set configuration, a resource configuration, a report configuration • As part of a measurement configuration (MeasConfig) • As part of CSI-AperiodicTriggerState information element (IE) (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0) • As part of CSI-AssociatedReportConfigInfo IE (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0) • As part of SI-ReportConfig (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0)

[0076] Some embodiments include implicit configuration / signaling of mappings. According to particular embodiments, a mapping (in terms of mapping parameters and / or a mapping rule identifier) or a mapping ID may be communicated to the UE implicitly via some other signaling, e.g. existing signaling (Rel-18), e.g. having the mapping parameter(s) or mapping ID be based on (including e.g. equal to where applicable) one or more of: • the resource set ID (e.g., the offset in a sequential mapping can be defined or configured to always equal the resource set ID, or be a simple function of the resource set ID)• the CSI configuration ID • the CSI report ID • the transmission configuration indication (TCI) state ID (where the method for determining mapping parameter / ID based on TCI state may be specified in the standard or configured by the network) or group of TCI state IDs • the time, e.g. in terms of the system frame number (SFN), subframe, slot, and / or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol number, timing advance group Id (TAG- ID) • the count of (valid or all) transmission occasions for a periodic or semi-persistent CSI-RS • the frequency resources, e.g. in terms of allocation of frequency resources, e.g. occupied REs in a resource block (PRB), PRB allocation in a bandwidth part (BWP), BWP ID, cell carrier (CellID), frequency band, subcarrier spacing • antenna ports for reference signals, e.g. antenna ports for CSI-RS, antenna ports for demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) receptions. • reference signals, e.g. index of pathloss reference signal (PL-RS Index), index of SSB, CSI-RS for tracking • relation of channel property, e.g. Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, Spatial Rx parameter, quasi-colocation (QCL) type • the RNTI (Radio Network Temporary Identifier), e.g., existing RNTIs 5G or newly added RNTI in sixth generation (6G) for AI-based feature (i.e., AI-RNTI)

[0077] Implicit signaling may have the advantage of requiring no extra signaling overhead for communicating the mapping.

[0078] According to some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device (e.g., UE) for identifying beams in a wireless network. The method comprises receiving a first beam identifier mapping from a network node. The first beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers (e.g., temporary beam identifiers) and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers (e.g., long term beam identifiers). The second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers. The method further comprises receiving a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

[0079] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises measuring one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration and reporting measurement results for at least one beam to the network node. The measurement results comprise a beam identifier for the at leastone beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0080] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises training a beam prediction model based on the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration. Each measurement result is associated with a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers (e.g., long term identifier) based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0081] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises predicting one or more measurement results for a beam based on output of a beam prediction model using the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration as input. Reporting measurement results for the at least one beam comprises reporting the predicted measurement results for the predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of the beam prediction model.

[0082] In particular embodiments, the predicted beam is identified based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0083] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a second beam identifier mapping from a network node. The second beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers. The second subset is different than the first subset. The method further comprises receiving a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

[0084] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises measuring one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration and reporting measurement results for at least one beam to the network node. The measurement results comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the second mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0085] In particular embodiments, the first set of beam identifiers comprise any one of: a set of channel state information reference signal resource identifiers; and a set of synchronization signal block resource identifiers.

[0086] In particular embodiments, the first set of beam identifiers comprise beam identifiers of the second set of beam identifiers with reduced dimension.

[0087] In particular embodiments, the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beamidentifiers. For example, the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers may comprise an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0088] According to some embodiments, a wireless device comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the wireless device methods described above.

[0089] Also disclosed is a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the wireless device described above.

[0090] According to some embodiments, a method is performed by a network node (e.g., gNB) for identifying beams in a wireless network. The method comprises transmitting a first beam identifier mapping to a wireless device. The first beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers. The second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers. The method further comprises transmitting a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

[0091] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device. The measurement report comprises a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0092] In particular embodiments, receiving the measurement report comprises receiving predicted measurement results for a predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of a beam prediction model.

[0093] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting a second beam identifier mapping to the wireless device. The second beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers. The method further comprises transmitting a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

[0094] In particular embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device. The measurement report comprises a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the secondmapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0095] According to some embodiments, a network node comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the network node methods described above.

[0096] Another computer program product comprises a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the network node described above.

[0097] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, particular embodiments provide systems and methods to improve UE-sided AI / ML models (one important topic in 3GPP). As another example, particular embodiments provide systems and methods for idle-mode data collection for network-sided models. As another example, particular embodiments provide systems and methods for handling the scenarios when Set A (or another beam set) comprises a large number of beams, without unnecessary large overhead. In other words, particular embodiments provide systems and methods to support more than the current NR limitation of 192 beams in, e.g., Set A.

[0098] As another example, in particular embodiments, the long-term beam IDs enable consistency in beam IDs between training and inference, while avoiding the inflexibility that would result from using NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId directly for this purpose.

[0099] As another example, particular embodiments provide systems and methods for a UE to determine whether any CSI-RS (or SSB) resource it receives is part of Set A or Set B, or both, or neither. For example, if the CSI-RS resource has a NZP-CSI-RS-Resource ID that is currently mapped to a long-term Set A beam ID, then the UE knows it is a Set A beam; if it is currently not mapped, then it should not be seen as a Set A beam. Similar for Set B.

[0100] In particular embodiments, the UE may train its model assuming a very large Set A and corresponding Set B beams, however, during inference, the network can assist the UE by indicating which subset of the set A beams is mostly relevant to its position, a corresponding subset B can also be indicated. With this indication, not only unnecessary overhead in the system can also be insured even during inference, when the UE needs to predict the best beam without unnecessarily large overhead to indicate the best beam ID (i.e., UE reports temporary beam ID).

[0101] Particular embodiments enable the UE-side to develop models corresponding to subset of set A and Set B beams while ensuring consistency between inference and training. For example, different Set A and B may be configured / used for different transmission direction.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0102] The present disclosure may be best understood by way of example with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure. In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates synchronization signal block (SSB) beam selection as part of an initial access procedure according to the P1 scenario; Figure 2 illustrates channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Tx beam selection in downlink according to the P2 scenario; Figure 3 illustrates user equipment (UE) Rx beam selection for corresponding CSI-RS Tx beam in downlink according to P3 scenario; Figure 4 illustrates an example where Set B is a subset of Set A; Figure 5 illustrates an example where Set A is a set of narrow beams and Set B is a set of wide beams; Figures 6A-6C illustrate example flowcharts for a method of the disclosed system, according to particular embodiments; Figure 7 illustrates a simplified example of sequential rule (variant 2) with ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ = 4 and^^^^ = 0, 1;Figure 8 illustrates an example of a multiple-sequential mapping rule, according to particular embodiments; Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example liner mapping method, according to particular embodiments; Figure 10 illustrates an example of CSI-RS mapping where shaded resource elements (REs) are used for CSI-RS; Figure 11 shows an example of a communication system, according to certain embodiments; Figure 12 shows a UE, according to certain embodiments; Figure 13 shows a network node, according to certain embodiments; Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized; Figure 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a wireless device, according to certain embodiments; and Figure 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node, according to certain embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0103] As described above, certain challenges currently exist with managing large beam sets. Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, particular embodiments define a long-term beam identifier (ID) that can support a large set of unique IDs (e.g., 2000 or more). As another example, particular embodiments define / configure a mapping between the long-term beam ID and the legacy beam ID (NZP-CSI- RS-ResourceId, a number 0–191), also referred to as “temporary beam ID,” where the mapping may be reconfigured dynamically.

[0104] Particular embodiments are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0105] Particular embodiments provide systems and methods to define a long-term beam ID that may support a large set of unique identifiers (IDs) (e.g., 2000 or more), and configure / indicate / predefine a mapping between the long-term beam ID and a legacy beam ID (e.g., non-zero power channel state information reference signal-ResourceId (NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceId), a number 0–191, synchronization signal block (SSB) Resource Index or an ID representing a new downlink reference signal or an ID representing a downlink synchronization signal in a sixth generation (6G) network). The legacy beam ID is henceforth referred to as “temporary beam ID”. In some embodiments, the mapping may be reconfigured dynamically. • Other possible wording for “long-term beam ID” may include any one of the following non-limiting examples: ExtendedNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId, longTermNZP-CSI-RS- ResourceId, staticNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId, fixedBeamID, consistancyNZP-CSI-RS- ResourceID, persistentNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceID, globalNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceID, setA- NZP-CSI-RS-ResrouceId (or setB…), and / or setA-BeamID” (or setB-…).

[0106] The long-term beam ID may be used to refer to a beam within a given Set A or Set B (in which case the indication of which Set A / B is concerned may be communicated by other means), but it may also more generally be used to refer to a beam in another set (e.g., in the combined Set A + Set B, or in a ResourceSet or ResourceConfig as defined in TS 38.331). In the most general case, the long-term beam ID may be used to refer to any beam in a mobile network.

[0107] An example function to illustrate / indicate a mapping from a temporary beam ID to a long-term beam ID may be as follows : ^^^^ = ^^^^(^^^^), EQ (1)where x is the temporary beam ID and y is the long-term ID. Thus, in some examples, notations of the mapping or translation from temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs may be as follows:{^^^^1, ^^^^2, … , ^^^^N} → {^^^^1,^^^^2, … , ^^^^N}, EQ (2)which may be interpreted as ^^^^1 = ^^^^(^^^^1), ^^^^2 = ^^^^(^^^^2), … , ^^^^N = ^^^^(^^^^N). EQ (3)

[0108] Note that neither x nor y need necessarily be a single number. For example, an ID maybe represented by a vector of multiple numbers ^^^^i =�^^^^(1)^^^^,^^^^(2)(^^^^)^^^^with j > 1. This may, for example, simplify referencing of a beam in situations wherehierarchically organized. In the following description, notations of temporary beam ID and long-term beam ID sometimes refer to x and y as numbers for brevity and simplicity, but it is to understood that the notations may be generalized to other representations where applicable.

[0109] Some embodiments include mapping function invertibility. In particular embodiments, the function ^^^^ may be assumed to be injective, i.e. two different temporary beam IDs ^^^^1and ^^^^2do not map to the same long-term ID ^^^^. In such cases, the inverse of ^^^^ exists and will be denoted ^^^^−1. Thus, a mapping between temporary and long-term beam ID (from either direction (from temporary beam ID to long-term beam ID; and from long-term beam ID to temporary beam ID) may be determined (i.e., not only from temporary to long-term ID).

[0110] In some embodiments, the function ^^^^ is not injective, and no inverse exists. This may sometimes facilitate more flexibility in mapping configuration.

[0111] Some embodiments include mapping encoding methods. In particular embodiments, a mapping ^^^^ between one fairly large set (temporary beam IDs) to another large set (Set A, e.g.2000 beams) may be efficiently encoded, and in particular mappings that may be desirable.

[0112] In particular embodiments, a mapping ^^^^ may be defined in terms of a mapping rule along with one or more parameters. The one or more parameters may be configured or reconfigured (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) by the network to the user equipment (UE), dynamically indicated by the network to the UE (e.g., via medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI)) or predefined in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications. The rule may be fully specified in the standard (i.e., fixed), or partly configured / reconfigured / indicated by the network. The following embodiments describe mapping rules that may be used in various situations.

[0113] Sequential rule (variant 1): in this case, the mapping function may be written as ^^^^(^^^^) = ^^^^ + ∆, EQ (4)where ∆ is a mapping parameter specifying an offset between temporary beam ID (a number) and long-term beam ID (also a number).

[0114] In particular embodiments, the mapping parameter ∆ comprises a single value (e.g., aninteger value). In particular embodiments, ∆ may be a list with L values. In one exampleembodiment, for the spatial domain beam prediction, ∆ comprises only a single value. In some embodiments, for the temporal domain beam prediction, F out of L items are present in sequential order, which represent the mapping parameters for each time occasion of measurement, where the same or different ∆ may be applied in each time occasion.

[0115] In one example, for the spatial domain beam prediction, ∆ may be configured as

[0500] .Then the mapping function is: {0,1, … ,191} → {500,501, … ,691}.

[0116] For the temporal domain beam prediction, ∆ may be configured with one element, e.g., ∆ =

[0500] if the same mapping parameter is configured for each time occasion of measurement. When each time occasion of measurement has different mapping parameter, ∆ may be configured with F elements, e.g., ∆ = [100, 400, 700] for F=3. Then, the mapping function is: For 1st time occasion of measurement: {0,1, … ,191} → {100, 101, … ,291}.For 2nd time occasion of measurement: {0,1, … ,191} → {400, 401, … ,491}.For 3rd time occasion of measurement: {0,1, … ,191} → {700, 701, … ,791}.

[0117] In particular embodiments, the mapping “wraps around” according to: ^^^^(^^^^) = (^^^^ + ∆) mod ^^^^^^^^ong−term, EQ (5)where ^^^^^^^^ong−termis the number of beam IDs in the set of long-term beam IDs.

[0118] Sequential rule (variant 2): in this variant, there are ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^temporary beam IDs configured to the UE by the network. Letdenote the ^^^^^^^^ℎtemporary beam ID, and letthe ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ temporary beam IDs ordered such that the temporary beamID increases with ^^^^ (i.e., ^^^^1 < ^^^^2 < ⋯ < ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^). Then, the mapping from temporary beam ID tolong-term beam ID may be achieved by the following function: ^^^^(^^^^^^^^) = ^^^^ ∗ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^, EQ (6)where ^^^^ and ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^are parameters that the network signals to the UE. In some embodiments, the parameter ^^^^ is configured, reconfigured, and / or indicated dynamically from the network to the UE. In particular embodiments, the parameter ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^is configured, reconfigured, and / or indicated dynamically from the network to the UE.

[0119] Figure 7 shows a simplified example of sequential rule (variant 2). In the illustratedexample, there are ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ = 4 temporary beam IDs (e.g., four non-zero power channel stateinformation reference signal (NZP CSI-RS) resources with corresponding NZP CSI-RS IDs that are configured for the purpose of artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) beam prediction). For the first instance when the four NZP CSI-RS resources are transmittedcorresponding to ^^^^ = 0, the long-term beam ID’s are computed as 0, 1, 2, and 3. For the secondinstance when the four NZP CSI-RS resources are transmitted corresponding to ^^^^ = 1, the long-term beam ID’s are computed as 4, 5, 6, and 7. In some embodiments, after the first instance when the four NZP CSI-RS resources are transmitted, the network may dynamically update the parameter ^^^^ from 0 to 1.

[0120] In some embodiments, an offset ∆ may be added. The offset ∆ may be either fixed in the standard or a parameter signaled from the network to the UE. In the latter case, the parameter ∆ may be configured, reconfigured and / or indicated dynamically from the network to the UE. ^^^^ = ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^

[0121] Sequential rule with limits: in this case, the mapping function may be written as in the sequential rule, but the input and / or output range is limited to some smaller interval than the number of temporary beam IDs. Example: {20, ,21, … ,37} → {210,211, … ,227}.

[0122] Some embodiments include a multiple sequential rule. The mapping may consist of multiple subsequences in the long-term and / or temporary beam ID sets. In particular, it may be useful to map a sequence of temporary beam IDs to multiple equally spaced sequences of long- term beam IDs. Such a mapping may be parametrized in terms of four (optionally five) integers: • ^^^^1– start temporary beam ID • ^^^^1– start long-term beam ID • ^^^^ – length of each subsequence • ^^^^ – offset between subsequence starts • (optional:) total length of the mapping or number of subsequences or last beam ID

[0123] In other words, ^^^^(^^^^) = ^^^^ + ∆(^^^^), EQ (7)where ∆= ^^^^1, if 0 ≤ ^^^^ − ^^^^1 ≤ ^^^^ − 1^^^^ ^^^^ − −+≤ − ≤ −… etc.

[0124] This type of rule may be valuable for 2D beam patterns. For example, it may encode the mapping from 6 temporary beam IDs to 6 long-term beam IDs out of a set of 32 long-term beam 8 using the parameters: •^^^^1 = 0• ^^^^1 = 9• ^^^^ = 3• ^^^^ = 8assuming that long-terms beam IDs 0, 1, 2, … 31 are assigned left-to-right, top-to-bottom as illustrated.

[0125] Figure 8 illustrates an example of a multiple-sequential mapping rule (note that all beams have numbers, even though not all of them are indicated explicitly in Figure 8).

[0126] Some embodiments include a bit-map rule. In particular embodiments, the mapping may be defined as a bit map, where each bit in a bit vector corresponds to a beam ID in the set of long-term beam IDs and indicates whether it should be part of a mapping to the temporary beam IDs or not. For example, the bit vector [0011100001] may indicate that the long-term beam IDs [2, 3, 4, 9] map to a sequence of consecutive beam IDs in the set of temporary beam IDs (either a sequence starting from beam ID zero, or from another starting point, which then may be separately signaled).

[0127] In particular embodiments, the order of the temporary beam IDs is according to the non-zero power channel state information reference signal (NZP CSI-RS) resource Id as specified per NZP CSI-RS resource information element (IE) according to TS 38.331 version 18.0.0 (for example the first temporary beam ID is the NZP CSI-RS resource with lowest NZP CSI-RS resource Id in an associated NZP CSI-RS resource set, the second temporary beam ID is the NZP CSI-RS resource with second lowest NZP CSI-RS resource Id in an associated NZP CSI-RS resource set and so on). In a similar way for synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), the order for the temporary beam IDs may be according to the SSB resource index (SSBRI).

[0128] In particular embodiments, each bit of the bit vector corresponds to multiple beam IDs, e.g. each bit may correspond to N consecutive beam IDs, or e.g. a set of subsequences as described above in the “multiple sequential rule.” One advantage of this is that fewer bits may be needed to include multiple consecutive beam IDs, which if nearby beam IDs correspond to spatially neighboring beams, enables indicating multiple spatially neighboring beams efficiently (which may often be desired in a real network).

[0129] Some embodiments include updated long-term IDs. In particular embodiments, the network may want to update the precoder (i.e., spatial transmit (TX) filter) for a certain long-term beam ID. The network may, in some embodiments, define a new long-term beam ID for such a precoder. However, this may impact the UE complexity, needing to handle also “outdated” long- term beam IDs. The network may, for example, include a field in the mapping encoding rule whether the beam is a “new beam ID.” The network may, for example, retrieve information fromthe UE in step 110 when it received the latest mapping of beam IDs, and the network may indicate whether the precoder for a certain beam ID has changed since then. For example, an additional bit is_new_precoder is appended to each beam ID (making the IDs n+1 bits long). Or the additional bit is_new_precoder is signaled in a separate bitfield. Or the network indicates which beam IDs that are new as part of the mapping.

[0130] The network may, in some embodiments, include a flag for how long the beam IDs have been valid. For example, a time-stamp of when it last changed any precoder. If the UE has training data older than the timestamp, the UE may request to receive the new beam mapping (including the beam IDs that have changed due to a new precoder).

[0131] Some embodiments include predefined / preconfigured mappings referred to by mapping IDs. Even with efficient encoding of a mapping function f, it may lead to undesirable signaling overhead. One way to further reduce the overhead is to define one or more mappings in advance and assign them each a “mapping ID.” When the mappings are later to be applied, the network may signal the mapping ID.

[0132] This may be particularly useful for some of the implicit signaling methods described herein, e.g. when the resource set ID is used to indicate a mapping: There may not be enough resource set IDs to cover all possible combinations of mapping parameters, but it may be used to indicate a mapping ID that refers to a predefined / preconfigured mapping function.

[0133] Some embodiments include long-term IDs being used as direct inputs with reduced dimension. In particular embodiments, the above-mentioned f is a linear function. For example, when ~192 temporary-IDs are scaled up to map ~2048 long-term IDs, a linear relation of the form x=Wy is obtained, where y is a n=11 bit binary vector (to cover all ~2048 long-term IDs), x is a reduced dimension m=8 bit vector, and W is a (m=8, n=11) low correlation matrix such that m<n. Pseudo inverse for W exists, such that (WWH)-1WHW is an (n, n) scaled identity matrix.

[0134] The idea is to increase the addressable / valid / active candidate IDs without increasing overhead, e.g., address ~2048 long-term IDs by the same 8 bits (instead of 11 bits) that were initially used to address ~192 temporary IDs. Figure 9 shows an example the sequence of steps for one of the proposed implementations.

[0135] Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example liner mapping method, according to particular embodiments. Each of the steps 100 to 103 of Figure 9 is described in the following description. In the example of Figure 9, the notion of temporary-IDs is not shown. Long-term IDs are directly used for the overhead, which is at most equal to transmitting the temporary-IDs.

[0136] This example method supports flexible mapping. In general, (m, n), i.e., both the number of temporary-ids and the number of long-term ids vary. So should the mapping betweenthem. It is easy to change / obtain W ad-hoc for a given (m, n), for example, to generate / obtain a (m=7, n=10) W, when there are ~128 temporary-ids and ~1024 long-term ids.

[0137] Due to the constraints on W (such as low correlation among the constituent vectors, invertibility to obtain scaled identity matrix, real or complex-valued, …), the possibility of having W for an arbitrary (m, n) may not be possible. However, W exists for various (m, n) combinations, and while selecting W, it may be ensured to address the required dimensionality.

[0138] It is expected that consecutive numbers of the long-term IDs map to beams that are closer to each other. This is also expected for temporary IDs. The mapping x=Wy may spread the IDs numbering away from each other in the reduced domain. To control this spread, 1) a bias may be added such that x=Wy + b, or 2) initial numbering of the long-term IDs may be reordered / shuffled so that the transformed sequence points to beams are closer to each other. For the former case, the bias b may also be informed to the UE along with the matrix W.

[0139] Some embodiments include explicit configuration / signaling of mappings (or mapping IDs). In particular embodiments, the mapping used may be communicated to the UE, and may be changed multiple times during data collection. As discussed above, the mapping may be expressed / encoded in terms of a mapping rule and / or one or more mapping parameters. Alternatively, the mapping may be expressed in terms of a mapping ID that refers to a mapping previously communicated to the UE in terms of mapping rules and / or one or more mapping parameters. The mapping rule(s) may be described in the specifications and an index to select the right rule may be used (unless there is a single mapping, in which case no index is needed). In any case, the mapping may eventually be communicated in terms of one or more numbers or bit sequences.

[0140] The one or more numbers or bit sequences, henceforth referred to as D, may be communicated.

[0141] In particular embodiments,, the mapping ID may be communicated as part of the NZP CSI-RS configuration / activation, either via RRC signaling or via MAC CE or DCI. A non-limiting example of RRC signaling is as follows: ASN1START -- TAG-CSI-MEASCONFIG-START CSI-MeasConfig ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-Resource OPTIONAL, -- Need Nnzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId OPTIONAL, -- Need N nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N <<ommitted >> Beam-ID-mapping-ID INTEGER (0..maxNrofBeam-ID-Mappings- 1) OPTIONAL <<omitted>> } -- TAG-CSI-MEASCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP

[0142] In some embodiments, the Beam-ID-mapping-ID is a reference to a Set A or Set B, and the beams defined (i.e., the NZP-CSI-RS-Resources or SSB resources) constitute the Set A / B.

[0143] In particular embodiments,, the mapping ID is communicated a part of a resource (or resource set) configuration. A non-limiting example is as follows: -- ASN1START -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-START NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSI-ResourceSetId NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceSetId,nzp-CSI-RS-Resources SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourcesPerSet)) OF NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceId, repetition ENUMERATED { on, off } OPTIONAL, -- Need S aperiodicTriggeringOffset INTEGER(0..6) OPTIONAL, -- Need S trs-Info ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., <<omitted>> Beam-ID-mapping-ID INTEGER (0..maxNrofBeam-ID-Mappings- 1) OPTIONAL <<omitted>> } ... -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-STOP -- ASN1STOP

[0144] In particular embodiments, the Beam-ID-mapping-ID is instead included in another IE related to beams (NZP-CSI-Resources or SSB resources), e.g. a ResourceConfig or a ReportConfig.

[0145] In particular embodiments, the mapping is done by leveraging the existing NZP-CSI- ResourceSetId or CSI-SSB-ResourceSetId, whereas the configuration used to provide this information is specific for the configuration of measurement resources during the training. CSI-MeasConfig ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-Resource OPTIONAL, -- Need Nnzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId OPTIONAL, -- Need N OPTIONAL, -- Need N OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-Resources)) OF CSI-IM-Resource OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-Resources)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ResourceConfigToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ResourceConfigurations)) OF CSI-ResourceConfig setB-nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N setB-nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId setB-csi-SSB-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-SSB-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need NsetB-csi-SSB-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-SSB-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ResourceConfigToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ResourceConfigurations)) OF CSI-ResourceConfig OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ResourceConfigToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ResourceConfigurations)) OF CSI-ResourceConfigId

[0146] In this case, the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet or CSI-SSB-ResourceSetId may contain a global ID associated with the specific instance of the configuration. -- ASN1START -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-START NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSI-ResourceSetId NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceSetId, nzp-CSI-RS-Resources SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourcesPerSet)) OF NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceId, repetition ENUMERATED { on, off } OPTIONAL, -- Need S aperiodicTriggeringOffset INTEGER(0..6) OPTIONAL, -- Need S trs-Info ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., <<omitted>> Global-ID-mapping-ID INTEGER (0..maxNrofGlobal-ID- Mappings-1) OPTIONAL <<omitted>>} ... -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-STOP -- ASN1STOP

[0147] In particular embodiments, an analogous field may additionally or alternatively be included in other IEs, e.g. ResourceConfig or ReportConfig.

[0148] In particular embodiments, signaling is used to change the mapping ID for a resource set or a measurement set without reconfiguring the entire resource or measurement set.

[0149] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is communicated as part of a CSI- AperiodicTriggerState IE (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0).

[0150] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is communicated as part of a CSI- AssociatedReportConfigInfo IE (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0).

[0151] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is communicated as part of a CSI- ReportConfig (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0).

[0152] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is related to the configuration of active SSBs in the synchronization signal (SS) Burst Set.

[0153] In particular embodiments, the mapping ID is communicated a part of a ServingCellConfigCommonSIB IE (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0).

[0154] In particular embodiments,, the mapping ID is communicated a part of a ServingCellConfigCommon IE (as specified in TS 38.331 version 18.0.0).

[0155] Some embodiments include implicit configuration / signaling of mappings (or mapping IDs). In particular embodiments, a UE may derive the mapping of temporary beam ID and long- term beam ID based on implicit configurations, e.g. the mapping is derived implicitly from existing Rel-18 signaling. One advantage of this is that no extra (or minimal extra) signaling overhead may be needed for the network to indicate the mapping to the UE.

[0156] As an example, some embodiments may use a sequential mapping with an offset parameter, and let the offset parameter ∆ be a function of the resource set ID, which may to be communicated to the UE in any measurement configuration. For example, some embodiments maydefine ∆= ^^^^ ∙ NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId, where ^^^^ is a predefined or configurable constant.

[0157] In the following, several types of implicit configurations are described. In particular embodiments, a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration is used to associate a temporary beamand a group of long-term beams. A UE derives the long-term beam ID based on the time, e.g. slot or relative slot number to the temporary beam configuration that the beam is received.

[0158] In particular embodiments, a UE assumes the mapping of CSI-RS in a slot for a temporary beam and long-term beams associated with the temporary beam are the same, that all configurations provided in CSI-RS-ResourceMapping IE for a temporary beam is assumed to be the same for temporary beam and long-term beams associated with the temporary beam. An example illustration of CSI-RS mapping is shown in Figure 10.

[0159] Figure 10 illustrates an example of CSI-RS mapping where shaded REs are used for CSI-RS.

[0160] In particular embodiments, a UE assumes some of the parameters for the mapping of the CSI-RS in a slot for temporary beam are used for long-term beam associated with the temporary beam, e.g. cdm-Type, density, freqBand.

[0161] Below is an example configuration of CSI-RS-ResourceMapping. One or more or all of the parameters may be used to derive an association between a temporary beam and a long-term beam. In particular embodiments, whether certain parameters shall be used or shall not be used in the association of temporary beam (temporary beam ID) and long-term beam (long-term beam ID) is signaled to the UE. -- ASN1START -- TAG-CSI-RS-RESOURCEMAPPING-START CSI-RS-ResourceMapping ::= SEQUENCE { frequencyDomainAllocation CHOICE { row1 BIT STRING (SIZE (4)), row2 BIT STRING (SIZE (12)), row4 BIT STRING (SIZE (3)), other BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) }, nrofPorts ENUMERATED {p1,p2,p4,p8,p12,p16,p24,p32}, firstOFDMSymbolInTimeDomain INTEGER (0..13),firstOFDMSymbolInTimeDomain2 INTEGER (2..12) OPTIONAL, -- Need R cdm-Type ENUMERATED {noCDM, fd- CDM2, cdm4-FD2-TD2, cdm8-FD2-TD4}, density CHOICE { dot5 ENUMERATED {evenPRBs, oddPRBs}, one NULL, three NULL, spare NULL freqBand CSI-FrequencyOccupation, ... }

[0162] In particular embodiments, a UE may be provided with long-term beam information with one or more following parameters to derive long-term beam ID: • maximum number of long-term beams • maximum number of long-term beams associated with a temporary beam or a temporary beam ID • Actual number of long-term beams • Actual number of long-term beams associated with a temporary beam or a temporary beam ID • Maximum number of repetitions • Actual number of repetitions associated with a temporary beam ID • Minimum time interval between long-term beams • Actual time interval between long-term beams • Maximum number of temporary beams • Actual number of temporary beams • Resource mapping information

[0163] In particular embodiments, the long-term beam information may be configured in higher layer, or indicated by MAC CE or indicated by DCI field in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0164] In particular embodiments, the long-term beam information may be activated and / or - updated in MAC CE, e.g., the actual number of long-term beams and the associated temporary beam ID may be updated in a MAC CE or indicated in an activation MAC CE.

[0165] In particular embodiments, the long-term beam information may be predefined in specification. In particular embodiments, the long-term beam ID may include the information of temporary beam ID. An example is shown below on how the configurated parameters are used to derive a long-term beam ID assuming the same mapping configuration.

[0166] In an example, a temporary beam may be configured with NZP-CSI-RS-Resource with following parameter(s): • NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId • periodicityAndOffset (periodicity 20, offset 6, note in New Radio (NR) the periodicity and offset are configured jointly) • resourceMapping • temporary beam ID (3)

[0167] In this example, the long-term beam information may be configured with one or more of: • maximum number of long-term beams (64*8) • maximum number of long-term beams associated with a temporary beam or a temporary beam ID (16) • Actual number of long-term beams (4) • Actual number of long-term beams associated with a temporary beam or a temporary beam ID (4) • Maximum number of repetitions (No repetition) • Actual number of repetitions associated with a temporary beam ID • Minimum time interval between long-term beams (1) • Actual time interval between long-term beams (1) • Maximum number of temporary beams (64) • Actual number of temporary beams (8) • Resource mapping information (same as temporal beam configuration)

[0168] After receiving the above configuration, in this example, the UE determines the number of bits used for long-term beam IDs from the actual number of temporary beams (8) and the maximum number of long-term beams associated with a temporary beam (16), which are 3 bits and 4 bits. This long-term beam ID consists of 3 bits used for the temporary beam ID and 4 bits oftime factor derived from time / slot when the beam is received, the SFN number, and periodicity of the temporal beam. The time factor in the long-term beam ID may be determined from, e.g. the number of slots relative to the slot temporary beam is sent. In the example as the temporary beam starts from slot 6, long-term beam ID in slot 6 is mapped as 0110000, where the first three bits are derived from temporary ID and the latter 4 bits 0000 are derived from the time factor that is 0 in slot 6 in this example; in slot 7, the long-term beam ID is mapped to 0110001, in slot 8, the long- term beam ID is mapped to 0110010, so on and so forth.

[0169] Some embodiments include global mapping ID for long-term beam. In particular embodiments, the mapping pattern of reference signals is associated with a global mapping ID. The reference signals include one of more of: • CSI-RS • DMRS in PDSCH and PDCCH • DMRS in PUSCH • RS in SSB • PT-RS

[0170] In particular embodiments, the global mapping ID may be predefined, e.g. in a table with combinations of mapping configurations, or encoded using specified method, that each ID may be mapped to configurations of a reference signal in a predefined time domain, e.g. in a slot, in a radio frame, including: • Position of OFDM symbol used for RS in a time domain, e.g. a slot • Number of OFDM symbols used for RS in a slot • Periodicity of reference signals • Frequency domain allocation, which subcarriers in a RB, which RBs in allocated frequency resources. • CDM type • Number of ports • Number of layers • Frequency bands • Repetition pattern

[0171] As global mapping ID is predefined or encoded using a specified method, the pattern this ID stands for is known to UE and network, the UE may inform the network about which mapping patterns it has trained with or supports by communicating the global mapping IDs to thenetwork. Note: “Mapping ID” as referred to in any embodiment may be local or global mapping ID.

[0172] An example of a global mapping ID table is shown in the Table 1. ID Reference Position Subcarrier CDM density Nrof … … number Signal: of in RB or Type ports OFDM frequency symbol domain allocation 0 CSI-RS 4,8 Row 1 Fd- One 2 … … CDM2 RB 1 CSI-RS 4,8 Row 2 Fd- One 2 CDM2 RB 2 CSI-RS 4,8 Row 3 Fd- One 2 CDM2 RB …

[0173] Table 1 illustrates a global mapping ID table. CDM stands for code division multiplexing, Fd-CDM2 stands for frequency domain code division multiplexing 2, and RB stands for resource block.

[0174] Some embodiments include model inference (step 180). Using the long-term beam IDs, the UE may report a possible strongest predicted beam when set A is more than 192 beams, with measurements on set B as input (step 170).

[0175] In particular embodiments, the above methods may be realized through the following RRC information elements. CSI-MeasConfig ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-Resource OPTIONAL, -- Need N nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-Resources)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId OPTIONAL, -- Need Nnzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-Resources)) OF CSI-IM-Resource OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-Resources)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-IM-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-IM-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-IM-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-SSB-ResourceSetToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-SSB-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSet OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-SSB-ResourceSetToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-SSB-ResourceSets)) OF CSI-SSB-ResourceSetId OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ResourceConfigToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ResourceConfigurations)) OF CSI-ResourceConfig OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ResourceConfigToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ResourceConfigurations)) OF CSI-ResourceConfigId OPTIONAL, -- Need Ncsi-ReportConfigToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ReportConfigurations)) OF CSI-ReportConfig OPTIONAL, -- Need N csi-ReportConfigToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofCSI-ReportConfigurations)) OF CSI-ReportConfigId OPTIONAL, -- Need N reportTriggerSize INTEGER (0..6) OPTIONAL, -- Need M aperiodicTriggerStateList SetupRelease { CSI- AperiodicTriggerStateList } OPTIONAL, -- Need M semiPersistentOnPUSCH-TriggerStateList SetupRelease { CSI-SemiPersistentOnPUSCH-TriggerStateList } OPTIONAL, - - Need M ..., [[ reportTriggerSizeDCI-0-2-r16 INTEGER (0..6) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ sCellActivationRS-ConfigToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofSCellActRS-r17)) OF SCellActivationRS-Config-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N sCellActivationRS-ConfigToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofSCellActRS-r17)) OF SCellActivationRS-ConfigId-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]], [[ ltm-CSI-ReportConfigToAddModList-r18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofLTM-CSI-ReportConfigurations-r18)) OF LTM-CSI- ReportConfig-r18 OPTIONAL, -- Need Nltm-CSI-ReportConfigToReleaseList-r18 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofLTM-CSI-ReportConfigurations-r18)) OF LTM-CSI- ReportConfigId-r18 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } -- TAG-CSI-MEASCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP

[0176] Figure 11 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0177] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0178] The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 toenable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.

[0179] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0180] The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and / or the telecommunication network 102 and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0181] As a whole, the communication system 100 of Figure 11 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0182] In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

[0183] In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0184] In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0185] The hub 114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the corenetwork 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non- dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0186] Figure 12 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0187] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0188] The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input / output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 11. The level of integration between the componentsmay vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0189] The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0190] In the example, the input / output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0191] In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.

[0192] The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0193] The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0194] The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and / or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0195] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0196] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0197] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0198] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), awearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item- tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in Figure 11.

[0199] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0200] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0201] Figure 13 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).

[0202] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as RemoteRadio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0203] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0204] The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 300.

[0205] The processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.

[0206] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0207] The memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and / or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated.

[0208] The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and / or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318.The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0209] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0210] The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port.

[0211] The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0212] The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, orintegrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0213] Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 13 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300.

[0214] Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

[0215] Applications 502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0216] Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 508.

[0217] The VMs 508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0218] In the context of NFV, a VM 508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 508, and that part of hardware 504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 508 on top of the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502.

[0219] Hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 502. In some embodiments, hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0220] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained informationinto other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0221] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0222] FIGURE 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1500 in a wireless device, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 15 may be performed by UE 200 described with respect to FIGURE 12. The wireless device is operable to identify beams in a wireless network.

[0223] The method 1500 begins at step 1512, where the wireless device (e.g., UE 200) receives a first beam identifier mapping from a network node. The first beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers (e.g., temporary beam identifiers) and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers (e.g., long term beam identifiers). The second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers.

[0224] In particular embodiments, the first set of beam identifiers comprise any one of: a set of channel state information reference signal resource identifiers; and a set of synchronization signal block resource identifiers.

[0225] In particular embodiments, the first set of beam identifiers comprise beam identifiers of the second set of beam identifiers with reduced dimension.

[0226] In particular embodiments, the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers. For example, the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers may comprise an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0227] For example, the mapping function may be written as ^^^^(^^^^) = ^^^^ + ∆, where ∆ is amapping parameter specifying an offset between a beam identifier of the first set (a number) and a beam identifier of the second set (also a number). In one example, ∆ may be configured as

[0500] and the mapping function is: {0,1, … ,191} → {500,501, … ,691}.

[0228] In particular embodiments, the beam identifier mapping comprises any of the mapping rules or functions described herein (e.g., sequential, multiple-sequential, bit-map, etc.).

[0229] In some embodiments, the mapping may be explicit or implicit.

[0230] At step 1514, the wireless device receives a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers (e.g., temporary beam identifiers, such as CSI-RS identifiers or SSB identifiers).

[0231] The wireless device may perform various functions based on the measurements using the first set of beam identifiers and associate the results, based on the beam identifier mapping, with an identifier of the second set of beam identifiers. Some examples are given in the following steps.

[0232] At step 1516, the wireless device may measure one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration.

[0233] At step 1518, the wireless device may train a beam prediction model based on the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration. Each measurement result is associated with a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers (e.g., long term identifier) based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0234] At step 1520, the wireless device may predict one or more measurement results for a beam based on output of a beam prediction model using the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration as input.

[0235] At step 1522, the wireless device may report measurement results for at least one beam identified in the measurement configuration to the network node. The measurement results comprise a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0236] Reporting measurement results for the at least one beam may comprise reporting predicted measurement results for the predicted beam. The predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of the beam prediction model.

[0237] In some embodiments, one or more of the above steps may be repeated with a second beam identifier mapping received from a network node. The second beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0238] Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1500 of FIGURE 15. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 15 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.

[0239] FIGURE 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1600 in a network node, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 16 may be performed by network node 300 described with respect to FIGURE 13. The network node is operable to identify beams in a wireless network.

[0240] The method 1600 begins at step 1612, where the network node (e.g., network node 300) transmitting a first beam identifier mapping to a wireless device. The first beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers. The second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers. The beam identifier mapping is described in more detail with respect to step 1512 of FIGURE 15, and with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein.

[0241] In particular embodiments, the beam identifier mapping comprises any of the mapping rules or functions described herein (e.g., sequential, multiple-sequential, bit-map, etc.).

[0242] In some embodiments, the mapping may be explicit or implicit.

[0243] At step 1514, the network node transmits a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device. The one or more beams are identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

[0244] At step 1516, the network node receives a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device. The measurement report comprises a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0245] The at least one beam may be a beam included in the measurement configuration, a beam predicted by a prediction model, or any other relevant beam.

[0246] In some embodiments, one or more of the above steps may be repeated with a second beam identifier mapping received from a network node. The second beam identifier mapping comprises a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

[0247] Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1600 of FIGURE 16. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 16 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.

[0248] The foregoing description sets forth numerous specific details. It is understood, however, that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. Those of ordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be able to implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation.

[0249] References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0250] Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments, alterations and permutations of the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description of the embodiments does not constrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of this disclosure, as defined by the claims below.

[0251] Some example embodiments are described below. Group A Embodiments 1. A method performed by a user equipment for mapping temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, the method comprising: receiving a beam configuration information, the beam configuration information indicating a mapping between a first set of temporary beam identifiers (IDs) and a first set of long-term beam IDs; and receiving an updated beam configuration information dynamically modifying said mapping, the updated beam configuration information indicating a second mapping between the first set of temporary beam IDs and a second set of long-term beam IDs, wherein the second set of long-term beam IDs is different from the first set of long-term beam IDs. 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first set of long-term beam IDs is a subset of a set of unique long-term beam IDs, wherein the set of unique long-term beam IDs is configured to support a larger set of unique beam IDs that is larger than the first set of temporary beam IDs. 3. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-2, wherein said mapping is defined by at least one of the following: a sequential rule, indicating that each temporary beam ID is to be mapped to a long-term beam ID in sequentially; a sequential offset rule, indicating that each temporary beam ID is to be mapped to a long-term beam ID with a sequential offset; a multiple sequential rule, indicating that temporary beam ID ranges are to be mapped to non- contiguous long-term beam ID ranges; a bit-map rule, where the mapping is represented by a bitmap indicating an association of each long-term beam ID with a temporary beam ID; or a compositional rule, where if a long-term beam ID is represented by a vector comprising a first numerical value and a second numerical value, wherein the first numerical value is determined based at least on an implicit indication of a mapping parameter, wherein the second numerical value is determined based at least on any of the sequential rule, the sequential offset rule, the multiple sequential rule, or the bit-map rule. 4. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-3, wherein said beam configuration information comprises a mapping ID instead of a mapping table comprising which temporary beamID is mapped to which long-term beam ID. 5. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-4, wherein the first set of temporary beam IDs comprises at least one of a non-zero power channel state information reference signal- ResourceSet (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId), a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator (CRI), or an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI). 6. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-5, wherein the first set of temporary beam IDs comprises an index of a list of new radio (NR) resource IDs in a certain ResourceSet or ResourceConfig taken: in order of increasing the NR resource IDs, or in order that the NR resource IDs are defined. 7. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-6, wherein said mapping is not cell-specific. 8. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-7, wherein said mapping is received at the UE in one of the following: as a part of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement configuration; as a part of a synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration in system information block 1 (SIB1); as a part of a resource set configuration, a resource configuration, or a report configuration; as a part of a measurement configuration, MeasConfig; as a part of CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateIE; as a part of CSI-Associated ReportConfigInfo information element (IE); or as a part of SI-ReportConfig. 9. The method of any one of the embodiments 1-7, wherein said mapping is implicitly indicated in one or more of the following: a resource set ID; a channel state information (CSI) config ID; a CSI report ID; one or more transmit chain indicator (TCI) state IDs; an indication in a system frame number (SFN), a subframe, a slot, an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) symbol number, or a timing advance group ID (TAG-ID); a count of transmission occasions for a periodic or semi-persistent channel state information- reference signal (CSI-RS); an indication of frequency resource allocation, comprising allocated resource elements in a physical resource block (PRB), a PRB allocation in a bandwidth part (BWP), a BWP ID, a cell carrier (CellID), a frequency band, or a subcarrier spacing; a set of antennal ports for reference signals; a set of reference signals; an indication of a relation of a channel property comprising a doppler shift, a doppler spread, an average delay, a delay spread, a spatial Rx parameter, or a quasi co-location (QCL) type; or a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). 10. The method of any of the embodiments 1-9, further comprising: before receiving the updated beam configuration information, performing a first measurement on a first signal received from each beam identified by a respective temporary beam ID from among the first set of temporary beam IDs; determining a first measurement data associated with the first measurement in response to performing the first measurement on the first signal, wherein the first measurement data comprises a signal strength or a signal-to-noise ratio; and associating the first measurement data to a first long-term beam ID, from among the first set of long-term beam IDs, mapped to the respective temporary beam ID based at least on said mapping. 11. The method of the embodiment 10, further comprising: after receiving the updated beam configuration information, performing a second measurement on a second signal received from each beam identified by a respective temporary beam ID from among the first set of temporary beam IDs; determining a second measurement data associated with the second measurement in response to performing the second measurement on the second signal, wherein the second measurement data comprises a signal strength or a signal-to-noise ratio; associating the second measurement data to a second long-term beam ID, from among the second set of long-term beam IDs, mapped to the respective temporary beam ID based at least on said second mapping. 12. The method of the embodiment 11, further comprising:training a machine learning algorithm based at least on the first measurement data and the second measurement data; and predicting, by the machine learning algorithm, a beam identified by a long-term beam ID based at least on the first measurement data and the second measurement data, wherein the selected beam provides a signal quality that is more than signal qualities of other beams from among the long- term beams; and utilizing the predicted beam for communication. 13. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: any of the wireless device steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above. 14. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional wireless device steps, features or functions described above. 15. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station. Group B Embodiments 16. A method performed by a network node for mapping temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, the method comprising: transmitting a beam configuration information, the beam configuration information indicating a mapping between a first set of temporary beam identifiers (IDs) and a first set of long-term beam IDs; modifying said mapping; and transmitting an updated beam configuration information dynamically modifying said mapping, the updated beam configuration information indicating a second mapping between the first set of temporary beam IDs and a second set of long-term beam IDs, wherein the second set of long-term beam IDs is different from the first set of long-term beam IDs. 17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the first set of long-term beam IDs is a subset of a set of unique long-term beam IDs, wherein the set of unique long-term beam IDs is configured to support a larger set of unique beam IDs that is larger than the first set of temporary beam IDs.18. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-17, wherein said mapping is defined by at least one of the following: a sequential rule, indicating that each temporary beam ID is to be mapped to a long-term beam ID in sequentially; a sequential offset rule, indicating that each temporary beam ID is to be mapped to a long-term beam ID with a sequential offset; a multiple sequential rule, indicating that temporary beam ID ranges are to be mapped to non- contiguous long-term beam ID ranges; a bit-map rule, where the mapping is represented by a bitmap indicating an association of each long-term beam ID with a temporary beam ID; or a compositional rule, where if a long-term beam ID is represented by a vector comprising a first numerical value and a second numerical value, wherein the first numerical value is determined based at least on an implicit indication of a mapping parameter, wherein the second numerical value is determined based at least on any of the sequential rule, the sequential offset rule, the multiple sequential rule, or the bit-map rule. 19. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-18, wherein said beam configuration information comprises a mapping ID instead of a mapping table comprising which temporary beam ID is mapped to which long-term beam ID. 20. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-19, wherein the first set of temporary beam IDs comprises at least one of a non-zero power channel state information reference signal- ResourceSet (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId), a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator (CRI), or an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI). 21. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-20, wherein the first set of temporary beam IDs comprises an index of a list of new radio (NR) resource IDs in a certain ResourceSet or ResourceConfig taken: in order of increasing the NR resource IDs, or in order that the NR resource IDs are defined. 22. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-21, wherein said mapping is not cell-specific. 23. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-22, wherein said mapping is received at the UE in one of the following: as a part of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurement configuration; as a part of a synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration in system information block 1 (SIB1); as a part of a resource set configuration, a resource configuration, or a report configuration; as a part of a measurement configuration, MeasConfig; as a part of CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateIE; as a part of CSI-Associated ReportConfigInfo information element (IE); or as a part of SI-ReportConfig. 24. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-22, wherein said mapping is implicitly indicated in one or more of the following: a resource set ID; a channel state information (CSI) config ID; a CSI report ID; one or more transmit chain indicator (TCI) state IDs; an indication in a system frame number (SFN), a subframe, a slot, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol number, or a timing advance group ID (TAG-ID); a count of transmission occasions for a periodic or semi-persistent channel state information- reference signal (CSI-RS); an indication of frequency resource allocation, comprising allocated resource elements in a physical resource block (PRB), a PRB allocation in a bandwidth part (BWP), a BWP ID, a cell carrier (CellID), a frequency band, or a subcarrier spacing; a set of antennal ports for reference signals; a set of reference signals; an indication of a relation of a channel property comprising a doppler shift, a doppler spread, an average delay, a delay spread, a spatial Rx parameter, or a quasi co-location (QCL) type; or a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). 25. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-24, further comprising: receiving a first measurement on a first signal transmitted on each beam identified by arespective temporary beam ID from among the first set of temporary beam IDs; determining a first measurement data associated with the first measurement, wherein the first measurement data comprises a signal strength or a signal-to-noise ratio; and associating the first measurement data to a first long-term beam ID, from among the first set of long-term beam IDs, mapped to the respective temporary beam ID based at least on said mapping. 26. The method of any one of the embodiments 16-24, further comprising: receiving a second measurement on a second signal transmitted on each beam identified by a respective temporary beam ID from among the first set of temporary beam IDs; determining a second measurement data associated with the second measurement, wherein the second measurement data comprises a signal strength or a signal-to-noise ratio; and associating the second measurement data to a second long-term beam ID, from among the second set of long-term beam IDs, mapped to the respective temporary beam ID based at least on said second mapping. 27. The method of the embodiment 25, further comprising: training a machine learning algorithm based at least on the first measurement data and the second measurement data; and predicting, by the machine learning algorithm, a beam identified by a long-term beam ID based at least on the first measurement data and the second measurement data, wherein the selected beam provides a signal quality that is more than signal qualities of other beams from among the long- term beams; and utilizing the predicted beam for communication. 28. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising: − any of the steps, features, or functions described above with respect to base station, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above. 29. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional base station steps, features or functions described above. 30. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: − obtaining user data; and− forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device. Group C Embodiments 31. A user equipment for mapping temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. 32. A network node for mapping temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry. 33. A user equipment (UE) for mapping temporary beam IDs to long-term beam IDs, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method performed by a wireless device for identifying beams in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving (1512) a first beam identifier mapping from a network node, the first beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers, wherein the second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers; and receiving (1514) a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting (1522) measurement results for at least one beam to the network node, the measurement results comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

3. The method of any one of claims 1-2, further comprising measuring (1516) one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration.

4. The method of any one of claim 1-3, further comprising training (1518) a beam prediction model based on the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration, wherein each measurement result is associated with a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, further comprising predicting (1520) one or more measurement results for a beam based on output of a beam prediction model using the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration as input; and wherein reporting measurement results for the at least one beam comprises reporting the predicted measurement results for the predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of the beam prediction model.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predicted beam is identified based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, further comprising: receiving (1512) a second beam identifier mapping from a network node, the second beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers; and receiving (1514) a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising reporting (1522) measurement results for at least one beam to the network node, the measurement results comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the second mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

9. The method of any one of claims 7-8, further comprising measuring (1516) one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration.

10. The method of any one of claims 1-9, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise temporary beam identifiers and the second set of beam identifiers comprise unique long-term beam identifiers.

11. The method of any one of claims 1-10, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise any one of: a set of channel state information reference signal resource identifiers; and a set of synchronization signal block resource identifiers.

12. The method of any one of claims 1-11, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise beam identifiers of the second set of beam identifiers with reduced dimension.

13. The method of any one of claims 1-12, wherein the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers comprises an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

15. A wireless device (200) capable of identifying beams in a wireless network, the wireless device comprising processing circuitry (202) operable to: receive a first beam identifier mapping from a network node, the first beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers, wherein the second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers; and receive a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

16. The wireless device of claim 15, the processing circuitry further operable to report measurement results for at least one beam to the network node, the measurement results comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

17. The wireless device of any one of claim 15-16, the processing circuitry further operable to train a beam prediction model based on the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration, wherein each measurement result is associated with a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

18. The wireless device of any one of claims 15-17, the processing circuitry further operable to predict one or more measurement results for a beam based on output of a beam prediction model using the measurement results for the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration as input; and wherein reporting measurement results for the at least one beam comprises reporting the predicted measurement results for the predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of the beam prediction model, and wherein the predicted beam is identified based on the mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

19. The wireless device of any one of claims 15-18, the processing circuitry further operable to: receiving a second beam identifier mapping from a network node, the second beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers; and receive a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

20. The wireless device of claim 19, the processing circuitry further operable to report measurement results for at least one beam to the network node, the measurement results comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the second mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

21. The wireless device of any one of claims 15-20, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise temporary beam identifiers and the second set of beam identifiers comprise unique long- term beam identifiers.

22. The wireless device of any one of claims 15-21, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise any one of: a set of channel state information reference signal resource identifiers; and a set of synchronization signal block resource identifiers.

23. The wireless device of any one of claims 15-22, wherein the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

24. The wireless device of claim 23, wherein the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers comprises an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

25. A method performed by a network node for identifying beams in a wireless network, the method comprising: transmitting (1612) a first beam identifier mapping to a wireless device, the first beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers, wherein the second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers; and transmitting (1614) a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving (1616) a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device, the measurement report comprising a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein receiving the measurement report comprises receiving predicted measurement results for a predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of a beam prediction model.

28. The method of any one of claims 25-27, further comprising: transmitting (1612) a second beam identifier mapping to the wireless device, the second beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers; andtransmitting (1614) a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising receiving (1616) a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device, the measurement report comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the second mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

30. The method of any one of claims 25-29, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise temporary beam identifiers and the second set of beam identifiers comprise unique long- term beam identifiers.

31. The method of any one of claims 25-30, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise any one of: a set of channel state information reference signal resource identifiers; and a set of synchronization signal block resource identifiers.

32. The method of any one of claims 25-31, wherein the first set of beam identifiers comprise beam identifiers of the second set of beam identifiers with reduced dimension.

33. The method of any one of claims 25-32, wherein the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers comprises an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

35. A network node (300) capable of identifying beams in a wireless network, the network node comprising processing circuitry (302) operable to: transmit a first beam identifier mapping to a wireless device (200), the first beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between a first set of beam identifiers and a first subset of a second set of beam identifiers, wherein the second set of beam identifiers is larger than the first set of beam identifiers; and transmit a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

36. The network node of claim 35, the processing circuitry further operable to a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device, the measurement report comprising a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers based on the first mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

37. The network node of claim 36, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to receive the measurement report by receiving predicted measurement results for a predicted beam, wherein the predicted beam is identified by a beam identifier from the second set of beam identifiers associated with the predicted beam during training of a beam prediction model.

38. The network node of any one of claims 35-37, the processing circuitry further operable to: transmit a second beam identifier mapping to the wireless device, the second beam identifier mapping comprising a mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and a second subset of the second set of beam identifiers; and transmit a measurement configuration for measuring one or more beams to the wireless device, the one or more beams identified in the measurement configuration according to the first set of beam identifiers.

39. The network node of claim 28, further comprising receiving (1616) a measurement report for at least one beam from the wireless device, the measurement report comprising a beam identifier for the at least one beam from the second set of beam identifiers based on the second mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the second subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

40. The network node of any one of claims 35-39, wherein the beam identifier mapping comprises a sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers.

41. The network node of claim 40, wherein the sequential mapping between the first set of beam identifiers and the first subset of the second set of beam identifiers comprises an offset between a beam identifier of the first set of beam identifiers and a beam identifier of the second set of beam identifiers.

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